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Thursday, June 19, 2008

After taking the roads and highways, it is time to take the railways. Yes, American Honda Motor Co. Ltd is now planning to introduce fuel efficient rail cars. The Ohio based Japanese auto-giant announced to deploy a new fleet of Auto-Max rail cars. These railcars can hold up 22 cars and trucks. The 400-car carrier decreases fuel costs per vehicle and reduces CO2 emissions. Biz Journals.com reports:

Honda's bi-level rail cars, by comparison, can move up to 10 trucks and only carry one vehicle at a time.

Ed Miller, a Honda spokesman, said another key feature of the railcars, designed by Lake Oswego, Ore.-based freight manufacturer Greenbrier Cos. (NYSE:GBX), is their fully enclosed design, which cuts down on shipping problems over long distances. Some vehicles produced in Marysville, for example, travel 3,000 miles.

In 2007, the USA Honda Motor Company Ltd. produced one million vehicles and transported every four out of five by rail. It spent about $7 million to redesign the infrastructure of its new railcars at its Marysville and East Liberty plants.

In the USA, Honda played a major role in increasing rail capacity and made it possible for railcars to move faster and reduce idle times during which it emits highest amount of CO2.